Xavier accepts deal to join Big East

Bobinski: 'This is the right place for Xavier'

Mar. 20, 2013

Loading Photo Galleries ...

Written by

Xavier Athletic Director - at least for a few days - Mike Bobinski talks about the official announcement of XU joining the Big East Conference during a gathering at the Cintas Center. / The Enquirer/Jeff Swinger

More

ADVERTISEMENT

Xavier University on Wednesday accepted an invitation to join the Big East and will navigate a new frontier in college athletics as part of a reshaped conference buttressed by a lucrative television deal.

University president Rev. Michael Graham joined other school presidents and Fox Sports Media Group executives in New York to unveil news that has been swirling for months: The additions of Xavier, Butler and Creighton to a 10-team league initiated by the Big East’s seven Catholic basketball-only institutions.

DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova split from the conference to form their own league and will officially depart June 30. The schools negotiated to keep the Big East name and the right to hold the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.

“This is the right place for Xavier. It is absolutely the right place at every level,” athletic director Mike Bobinski said in his final Xavier press conference before starting his new job April 1 at Georgia Tech.

“The ability to associate with institutions like Villanova, Georgetown, Marquette, St. John’s, Creighton…it’s unbelievable. I can’t come up with a better group of schools that we could ever be associated with. It is the long-term home for as far as I can see for Xavier, and that’s a really exciting thing to know that you’ve landed where you are.”

Xavier fans, coaches and student-athletes packed the Duff Family Banquet Room at Cintas Center to view the news conference in New York, where Fox Sports announced a 12-year television deal with the Big East.

The agreement gives Fox Sports rights to all conference-controlled men’s basketball games, select rights to women’s basketball, all Olympic sports and extensive rights for highlights and production of ancillary programming. Its newly-minted national sports channel, Fox Sports 1, will televise more than 100 regular-season men’s basketball games next season.

While Xavier must pay a $2 million exit fee to the Atlantic 10, its conference home for the last 18 seasons, the benefits far outweigh the requirement. The Musketeers will gain nearly $2.5 million annually as part of the new TV deal while forging an identity that will impact admissions, alumni and fundraising efforts.

All 18 Xavier athletics programs will compete in the Big East, marking the first time since the 1992-93 school year that they’ll be in the same conference. The women’s golf team has competed in the Colonial Athletic Association since its inception because the A-10 lacked a program.

The move to the Big East thrusts a spotlight on Xavier’s men’s basketball in particular as it moves into elite company with some of the country’s premier teams.

Xavier – which won nine regular-season titles and four conference tournament championships during its A-10 tenure – has long scheduled a difficult non-conference slate to bolster its NCAA tournament resume. Now it will face some of the nation’s top programs during the conference season.

“I think, No. 1, it’s exciting,” fourth-year men’s basketball Chris Mack said of the move to the Big East. “No. 2, it’s a huge challenge. I think it’s one our players need to work extremely hard, like they always do. I think it’s what you work for as a player, what you want as a player, to play on the highest possible stage against really, really good teams.”

Mack and his staff held a team meeting Tuesday to tell players about the news. He said they were excited and prepared to embrace the challenges.

Women’s basketball coach Amy Waugh described Xavier’s transition “a great move” and an opportunity to start with a clean slate. The second-year coach has already inked six freshman for next season’s team.

“Obviously we don’t know much about those (Big East) teams but they don’t know much about us, either. It’s a big-time conference and we’re excited to make the move,” Waugh said.

Graham said in his prepared video that splitting with the A-10 was bittersweet but the conference’s future was bright. A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade wished Xavier and one-year A-10 member Butler the best.

“They are two outstanding universities with outstanding people; our partnership has been mutually beneficial and successful. As a longtime strong A-10 member, Xavier’s departure is unfortunate,” McGlade said in a statement.

“As a conference, we anticipated this move and are prepared to proactively move forward. The A-10 is strong – we have 16 basketball teams participating in the postseason and will focus on them right now. NCAA postseason is an exciting time not to be overshadowed by conference realignment.”

While the additions of Xavier, Butler and Creighton are significant steps forward in the Big East’s new landscape, the conference must still hire a commissioner and create bylaws. New York-based executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates will conduct the commissioner search.

For Xavier, Bobinski said the milestone announcement is the first step in another journey.

“This is not the destination. We’re not done. It’s like when you make the NCAA tournament: It’s great to get there but it really isn’t the same unless you win,” Bobinski said.

“I think that’s the progression that Xavier’s made over the years. In years gone by, it was great to be there. Now, we when get there, it’s just the beginning. This, today, is just the beginning of an amazing new chapter in Xavier University’s history, in Xavier athletics history.”